macarthur31

Maybe he'll be too expensive, or perhaps we need to prioritize SP, but can I interest anyone in Teruaki Sato for corner OF?

Aside from the Local TV Deal money, I'd imagine that getting the salary cap installed would go a long way towards getting clearer franchise valuations. MLB just increased the cap for single private equity investment up to 20% (though it can't exceed the owner's controlling stake) - so perhaps higher franchise valuations now ups the potential moolah gained through P/E coming in. Getting this done also paves the way for expansion to get to 32 total teams - (16 in AL/NL, 4 divisions of 4 teams each), and clearer cost certainty may increase the amount of potential owner candidates. All in all, estimated to be roughly $6B in expansion fees to divvy between 30 teams - $200M in one fell swoop sure helps. So, this does become a "intramural" battle within the owners - status quo is good for some (big markets who want to keep pushing their advantage, as well as small markets who are shielded from having to spend up to a floor), but are they willing to trade the known present for a potentially more lucrative future? I have to imagine that trying to align 23/30 is easier than the amount that the MLBPA has to align; and owners will have a bigger warchest to wait the lockout out than the players.

I align with you that the prospect of a salary cap is likely more of a negotiating chip with regards to the reality of executing it - they'd have to open their books, discern what counts as "Baseball Related Income", and the current proposal of floor is like 70% of cap, which is laughable given that NBA/NFL/NHL floors are at 90%. However, I understand that cost certainty is the biggest prize - and namely that through a salary cap they can limit player spending, even as the media deals and other potential revenue streams keep rising. (Or perhaps this prevents rogues like Steve Cohen to uber-invest on payroll; or in the NBA - see Steve Ballmer circumventing the cap to give Kawhi Leonard's camp all the monies). Quick google search says to me that it takes 23/30 owners to pass major league wide rules. The biggest winners in local TV revenue are LAD ($334M), NYM ($217M), LAA ($172M), CHC ($132M) and NYM ($128M). If the average MLB team makes $40-$50M, Manfred just needs to make the case that a centralized media package could net $90M-$100M per team, and he could get enough votes to pass.

From my limited vantage point, I intuit that centralizing the media inventory and landing that next rights deal ASAP is top priority for Manfred. (IIRC, I don't think they need unanimous owners vote to get that done.). I agree that the MLBPA isn't going to buckle on salary cap, but the owners will extract enough other items (domestic draft contraction, establish int'l draft, etc) to support more cost certainty. They can live with a "tougher" soft cap, since 80% of owners already treat it like a hard cap - and we will lose a small sliver of games, but likely will play ball by April.

Unsure if its a numbers game, but it seems that every year the "Pitch Lab" scores a reclamation win: Lopez and Miller in '24, Keller in '25, Rolison and Webb in '26. Hoping that Roli and Webb can stay steady, but assuming they can unearth another one, (Or perhaps Maton is that reclamation project?) then I align with bullpen being a lower priority to SP, Corner OF and possibly power upgrade at 1B? (I like Busch, but I wouldn't be surprised if Jed is looking for proven 30 HR power at that spot)

Right on. I can see how reallocating $25.2M (Dansby's luxury tax hit) could help cover costs to improve the pitching as you outlined. Perhaps if he had only one year left, I might be able to see how another team may want to offer up a decent prospect. However, if the Cubs were in that spot, that speaks to me that we're tanking the next season - or perhaps we have a different POBO than Jed Hoyer, as Jed chose Dansby in that SS FA class to be a cornerstone to build the next great Cubs team.

I have a hard time figuring out how trading "Dansby for prospects" makes the '27 team better. Even if you were going to get any prospects for him, they'd be of the long-term lottery kind, so I guess you're raising the ceiling of the '31 team? He's still top tier with regards to defense and he's a clubhouse leader - that also seems like a horrific message to send to the rest of the team. Looking at his fangraphs, it's evident that he took a step back with the bat this season. However, he improved his BB% to 10.5%, which is just about his career best ('17, 10.7%) and his K% is down to 23.7%, his best ever as a Cub - and the .185 was also his best as a Cub. Why was the BABIP down to a career worst .242, and the Barrel% down to 7.2% (from career avg 9.0%). Perhaps he's in a transition phase with his approach as he's starting to age? Given his high work ethic, I'm hopeful he can trend upwards in '27.

I needed some time away. After reading the thread so far, as well as watching Jed's presser last week, I'm in general alignment that: we'll extend the QOs to Happ and Suzuki; and OK with it if the former picks it up, and not expecting for the latter to give it any mind as he ends up in another NPB-alum friendly place like Toronto. Even if he could convert any/some combo of Shaw, Ramirez, Alcantara into 1-2 controlled cost starters, he still will likely devote the super majority of the FA war chest into pitching. Steele, Brown, Horton, Wiggins: I'd lean pessimistic to pencil anyone save Steele to get more than 15 starts next season. The bullpen is not in a shambles. I'm interested to see a full offseason for Palencia, Zeferjahn, Webb and Rolison. We also have Maton coming back, hopefully with the knee healed up. Perhaps some of that transfer money could be spent here to get some more velo/Ks, but this is a decent floor to work with. Other things that come to mind: All in all, I'd rate the Shota experience as a win, and it provides us more intel on how NPB alum might fare in the Cubs rotation. What's up with Hottovy? I'm not necessarily calling for his ouster, but it's apparent that the Cubs will continue to examine it's pitching infrastructure. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a mutual parting of the ways, and perhaps we'll see someone aligned with the Zombro-coaching tree steps in. Someone said this earlier on the thread - I wouldn't be against trading Hartshorn to secure cost-controlled starting pitching. It's hard to imagine the hype on him getting any higher. If the assignment is to get to a 93 win floor team, then it's just daunting. Outside of the starting rotation, they need to figure out the corner outfielders, a replacement for Carson Kelly, RH platoon for Busch. On the plus side, the infield is pretty set; and PCA elite defense gives them leeway to go more bat first in filling out the corner OF; Finally, the looming CBA battle just throws more complexity into the mix.

On one hand, the owners will still get the TV money for 2027 games - whether or not they happen. That seems to me to be a useful bolstering for their war chest. However, if they do "punt" on the season, that costs them a year in waiting to do a new lucrative media deal. So, how greedy are they?

Great.

By leaving the Cubs beat, that likely frees up her summers. Along with the rise to the national network (though ESPN seems to have lost a bit of its shine in recent years), that had to be a perk as well. She could be the next Erin Andrews in the sideline reporter game - her ceiling is high.

Yeah, it's kind of a bummer as she really has become a fixture on Marquee, and has terrific chemistry with JD and Boog. However, she's been doing the sideline reporting gig for college football alongside Marquee, and this season has started to break out (she got rave reviews for her explainer during the SMU-FSU game delayed by power outage). Perhaps I'm reading too much into things - but Marquee has a pretty robust television roster, and I wonder if this is cost control. Elise Menaker has capably fulfilled that role, so barring her availability, she could likely step into the sideline role smoothly. (Lance Broz has also been solid as the "C-Teamer", and given he's already Marquee's Cubs pod co-host, he'd likely be up for getting that "backup" to Menaker.)

When a team clinches playoffs, I'm totally down for them to celebrate the achievement. It's been a long season - only 12 teams get to do this. However, if they win today, I'm trying to figure out how raucous the celebration will be - given its a getaway day to Boston, and there's a doubleheader tomorrow. I intuit that they'll probably only go at 60-70% intensity with it, and that's a great problem to have (*knocks on all sorts of wood around me, to stifle any jinx*).

Double header means we can add one more pitcher for that day, right? Wonder how that intersects with the buzz about Justin Steele making an appearance in the final series.

I'd imagine that whether or not he's on the Injured List would be a significant tell. If Bregman/Cubs were feeling optimistic, I would've expected at least a 7-day concussion symptoms IL list stay (which I imagine they could make a compelling case). If they go with the 10-day, does that cut it way too close to make WC series? I don't think there has been an announcement yet, but I'd be very surprised that the Cubs would be willing to be down a man on the bench with homefield advantage still in play.